She was a social media star.
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They said her body was not discovered until Saturday morning.
Qandeel Baloch, a Pakistani social media star who became famous and, in her home country, infamous for her outspoken feminist beliefs and criticism of religion was murdered on Friday by her brother in what local police are calling an honor killing.
Ms Baloch, 26, whose real name was Fauzia Azeem, had travelled with her family from the city of Karachi to Muzzafarabad village in central Punjab province for the recent Eid holiday.
Ms Baloch went into hiding after receiving threats from her brother over photos she shared with her Facebook followers and had asked Pakistan’s interior minister for protection. Her fame skyrocketed in March when she posted a video promising to do a striptease for the captain of the Pakistani cricket team if they won the championships.
“Qandeel was killed by her brother over honour in Green Town area”, said regional police officer Sultan Azam when speaking to The Express Tribune. BBC reports that the strangling occurred following an argument with her brother, who has not been captured. Police presented him with his face covered during a press conference, during which he said he “killed for honour” and had “no regrets”.
Police were now looking for Waseem, who had disappeared, she added.
Reuters was not immediately able to reach the family for comment.
According to the World Economic Forum’s 2015 Gender Gap Report, Pakistan has the second widest gender disparity gap of the 145 countries listed, the worst only to Yemen.
One of the loudest people in entertainment, she fell victim to one of the vilest hate crimes in our society- an honour killing.
Cases of women being killed for “dishonouring” their family are commonplace in Pakistan. Her weapons included social media pictures and videos of herself that, in this religiously and socially conservative nation, were considered highly provocative.
Though popular with many liberals, Baloch often struggled with the frequent abuse aimed at her. In her videos, she spoke openly about her sexuality, a taboo topic in Pakistan. But other Pakistanis admired her defiance and independence.
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“What she (was) doing is a disgrace for Pakistan so she deserve this”, said Twitter user Asad Iqbal Orakzai.
